LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

Questions 1 – 6: Determine which of the following synonyms on the given choices best
corresponds to how the underlined word/s we’re used on each sentence.

1. Terrie kept fumbling the materials, gathering a few and shuffling them as if they were cards.
a. playing with
b. juggling
c. groping for
d. moving clumsily

2. Two police officers sprawled over a couch in Johanna’s living room, as if they were in their
own homes.
a. creep awkwardly
b. lay down
c. jumped into
d. sit with arms and legs spread out

3. The interviewer, dark, young and serious, turned his attention to us with a cramped sort of
face.
a. paralyzed
b. cheerful
c. bothered
d. expressionless

4. The dog ambled to the door, which was slightly ajar, and slowly squeezed out into the passage.
a. crept
b. ran
c. walked
d. jumped

5. Harold lumbered at him and clouted him across the head.

a. cover with a clout
b. hit forcefully
c. stroke gently
d. kissed

6. I thought they were likely to bundle him into a car but the policeman simply led him back to
the road and pointed him towards the town center.
a. wrap
b. hustle
c. a lot of things
d. grouped together
Questions 7 – 12: Choose the correct sequence of sentences that will make the paragraph
more organized and logical.

7.
(1) Dapat din makita ninuman ang ganda ng buhay para masilayan ang ganda ng daigdig at saka
sabihin kung karapat-dapat ba ito sa ating pag-ibig at pagpapakasakit.
(2) Sa taong punong-puno ng hinanakit at pagdurusa, masasabing hindi maganda ang daigdig para
sa kanya.
(3) Laging pakaisiping may mga nilikha na itinalaga na handang mabuhay at marunong mabuhay
nang di lamang dahil sa kanilang sarili.
(4) Subalit hindi dapat doon matatapos ang lahat.
(5) Dapat bigyang puwang at pagkakataon ang pag-asa para makita ang kahiwagaan ng buhay.
a. 2-4-5-1-3
b. 2-5-1-3-4
c. 2-3-1-4-5
d. 2-4-5-3-1

8.
(1) Magaan din ang pag-angat at pagbagsak ng mga paa nito.
(2) Mula sa kinatatayuan ni Aling Rosa sa tabi ng bintana ay nakita niyang papasok na sa
tarangkahan si Amelita.
(3) Hindi naikubli ng nag-aagaw na dilim at liwanag ang hapung-hapong anyo ni Amelita at ang
hapis na mukhang pinalamlam ng pagod.
(4) Ngunit hindi rin nakubli sa paningin ng matanda na wari ay walang naramdamang pagod o
hirap ang anak.
(5) Tila may kasiyahang walang kahulilip ang imbay ng kanang braso, at ang kaliwa ay may kipkip
na aklat at makapal na kwaderno.
a. 2-3-4-1-5
b. 2-4-1-3-5
c. 2-3-1-4-5
d. 2-5-3-4-1

9.
(1) An example of job sharing would be for one person to work mornings, and the other to work
afternoons.
(2) The people sharing the job might be two friends, a husband, and wife, or two employees who
did not know each other before sharing a job.
(3) If the job were complex, the two sharers would have to spend some overlap time discussing the
job.
(4) Job sharing is a modified work schedule in which two people share the same job, both usually
working half-time.
a. 1-2-3-4
 b. 4-2-1-3
c. 4-1-2-3
d. 1-4-2-3

10.
(1) To alleviate the struggle of keeping children from attending school, the government, together
with the parents, must work hand-in-hand to achieve sustained learning.
(2) Next, the government will have to devise schemes, apart from the cash transfer, to assist parents
in keeping children in school, possibly with the assistance of the private sector and multilateral
institutions.
(3) Adult literacy programs can also be promoted to inculcate the value of continuing education
among parents with limited formal schooling.
(4) Parents will also have to set aside their own funds for their children’s kindergarten expenses, in
addition to saving up for expenditures in higher grades.
(5) Micro-lending schemes for education and entrepreneurship can be developed.
(6) First, providing free kindergarten is laudable but is an additional strain on the limited national
appropriation for education.
a. 2-1-4-3-5-6
b. 1-6-2-4-3-5
c. 5-6-4-3-2-1
d. 1-6-4-2-5-3

11.
(1) The interior space has been modeled to echo the Thai characteristics of warmth and hospitality,
especially more evident nowadays in quaint resorts and provincial guesthouses.
(2) There are several decorations and framed images that reflect the culture of local hill tribes.
(3) Starbucks on Langsuan is the first ever community store in Asia and outside of the United
States.
(4) It is difficult to miss this Starbucks from the outside. Amid imposing office buildings and
business hotels lies this almost humble looking structure designed in the traditional style of a Thai
home.
(5) It is easy to notice its unmistakably Thai roof and gable which might give one the first
impression that it was an antique Thai house (if not for that signature Starbucks logo prominently
placed on the facade).
a. 4-5-1-2-3
b. 3-4-5-1-2
c. 3-5-1-2-4
d. 4-3-5-2-1

12.
(1) Ang ilan sa mga ito ay sina Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar at Graciano Lopez-Jaena.
(2) Mababanggit dito si Francisco Baltazar na higit na kilala sa pangalang Francisco Balagtas, si Jose
Dela Cruz o Huseng Sisiw na nakilala sa larangan ng panitikan.
(3) Noong ika-19 na dantaon, ang Kilusang Propaganda ay nakilala.
(4) Kakaunti lamang sa mga Pilipino ang namumukadkad ang galing sa sining sa panahon ng mga
Espanyol.
(5) Ang kilusang ito ay namayagpag sa larangan ng literatura at pamamahayag.
a. 4-5-2-3-1
b. 4-2-3-5-1
c. 4-1-3-2-5
d. 4-2-1-3-5

13. It is bizarre how often public figures who loudly espouse traditional family values are later
caught in some scandal concerning their own private lives.
a. remember
b. reject
c. recognize
d. argue for

14. Marc is far too sensible to have done a fatuous thing like that.
a. dangerous
b. risky
c. inate
d. foolish

15. Our workplace wore a macabre look on Monday after the company downsized its staff strength.
a. gameface
b. serious
c. tropical
d. lugubrious

Questions 16 – 18: Choose the best word/s that will complete the sentence.

16. The children ( ) the ill effects of war

a. have borne
b. have born
c. has borne
d. had born

17. My sister ( ) to Zamboanga seven years ago.

a. migrated
b. migrating
c. immigrated
d. immigrating
18. The drug pushers tried to ( ) the arresting cops.
a. buy in
b. buy off
c. buy out
d. buy up

Questions 19 – 20: Choose the sentence that best combines the underlined sentences.

19. The old brain is called the reptilian brain. It does not know passion, but only stolid obedience to
its own genetic dictates.
a. After the old brain is called the reptilian brain, it does not know passion, but only stolid
obedience to its own genetic dictates.
b. The old brain, called the reptilian brain, does not know passion, but only stolid obedience to
its own genetic dictates.
c. The old brain is called the reptilian brain, whereupon it does not know passion, but only
stolid obedience to its own genetic dictates.
d. Unless the old brain, called the reptilian brain, does not know passion, only stolid obedience
to its own genetic dictates.

20. There have been great strides in the practical application of quantum physics in the last decade.
We are no closer to actually understanding it than were the physicists of the 1920s.
a. Unless there have been great strides in the practical application of quantum physics in the
last few decades, we are no closer to actually understanding it than were the physicists of
the 1920s.
b. In the last few decades, we are no closer to actually understanding it than were the
physicists of the 1920s, until there have been great strides in the practical application of
quantum physics.
c. Although there have been great strides in the practical application of quantum physics in
the last few decades, we are no closer to actually understanding it than were the physicists
of the 1920s.
d. In the last few decades, if there have been great strides in the practical application of
quantum physics we are no closer to actually understanding it than were the physicists of
the 1920s.
 ANSWER KEY (LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY)

1. D
2. D
3. C
4. C
5. B
6. B
7. A
8. A
9. B
10. D
11. B
12. B
13. C
14. D
15. D
16. A
17. C
18. B
19. B
20. C